QLD ELECTION: Palaszczuk confident of majority win

25th November 2017 6:22 PM

UPDATED
26th November
2:43 PM

by Staff writers

LATEST:PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says she remains confident of securing a second term in office as counting continues, and has batted away questions on any potential crossbench deals should the Labor Party fall short.

"We are still confident of securing a majority," the Premier said as she met with her newest MPs at a park in the now Labor electorate of Mount Ommaney in Brisbane's southwest this afternoon.

"I want a Labor majority and I am confident I will get a Labor majority."

She would not say if she would be willing to negotiate with Katter's Australian Party or Rockhampton Mayor Cr Margaret Strelow, who is closing in on the Rockhampton electorate, should Labor not reach the 47 seats it needs to govern in its own right.

EARLIER: Tim Nicholls says he's still waiting for the official result of the election and it's too early to comment on any potential LNP leadership spill.

The ABC's election analyst has called the election for Labor but the LNP are still awaiting the result of a host of close seats.

"It's now in the hands of the scrutineers, the votes have been cast and we just wait for them to be counted and we'll see what happens and what the outcome of the people of Queensland is," he said.

Asked whether he expected a leadership ballot, he said he was just focused on having an enjoyable coffee with his family, supporters and deputy Deb Frecklington.

"I'm not going to talk about any of those sort of things today ... we're going to celebrate a great campaign that had a positive message," Mr Nicholls said. - Jessica Marszalek

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is greeted by supporters as she arrives to an election night function at the Oxley Golf Club in Brisbane, Saturday, November 25, 2017. Queenslanders voted today in the state's election.AAP Image - Dan Peled

PREDICTION: THE ABC's election analyst Antony Green has called the Queensland election for Labor.

Green says the party led by Annastacia Palaszczuk will see the count out with 48 seats, one more than the 47 required to stay in power.

He predicts the LNP will win only 39 seats.

Predictions are also in for the Greens and One Nation, who he expects to win one seat each.

EARLIER: THE outcome of the Queensland election is still undecided, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is confident Labor will secure the 47 seats it needs to form a majority government.

Counting will resume at 9am, but a result could be days away.

The count has been complicated by One Nation's decision to preference the Greens last and all sitting MPs second last, and the reintroduction of compulsory preferential voting.

At the end of counting on Saturday night, with around 60 per cent of the votes in 93 seats were counted, Labor was ahead on 43 seats with the LNP on 34. Katter's Australian Party retained its two seats.

Ten seats are still undecided, and pre-polling and postal votes could eventually determine the make-up of the newly expanded 93-seat parliament.

In a bad night for the LNP, three opposition frontbenchers in Scott Emerson, Ian Walker and Andrew Cripps were likely to lose their seats.

It was an even worse night for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party which is yet to pick up a seat and lost its state leader, Steve Dickson, and star candidate Malcolm Roberts when they failed to make an impact in Buderim or Ipswich. The Greens lost to Jackie Trad in South Brisbane, but the party's candidate Amy MacMahon savaged the deputy premier's big majority.

On Saturday night, Ms Palaszczuk said she expected Labor would be able to govern for the next three years in its own right.

"Tonight, we are close to the peak but we are not quite there and we will not get there tonight. But I remain confident we will be able to form a majority Labor government."

During the four-week campaign, Ms Palaszczuk ruled out striking any deals with minor parties or independents and put the pressure on the LNP, who were linked to an "unholy" One Nation alliance, to do the same.

Opposition leader Tim Nicholls was quick to put put the pressure on Ms Palaszczuk to keep her word and not do any deals with the Greens, KAP or One Nation.

LNP leader Tim Nicholls on election night. Picture: Josh Woning/AAP
"That was her promise," he told his supporters. "Will she keep her word?"

"Queenslanders have voted to shake things up and it's clear the premier has not won a majority in her own right."

EARLIER: ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk is relying on a handful of electorates swinging her way in order to retain her grip on power without breaking her "no deals" commitment.

The Premier was last night in the box seat to form government, claiming at least 43 of the 93 seats in the new parliament compared to the LNP's 37.

But about 11 electorates across Queensland remained too close to call last night including Cook, Thuringowa, Rockhampton, Mundingburra, Macalister and Noosa where the LNP's Glen Elmes looks poised to lose his seat to Independent Sandra Bolton.

Ms Palaszczuk will need at least five of those seats to fall Labor's way to reach the 47 seats she needs to govern in her own right.

Otherwise she faces the prospect of having to seek out a deal despite repeatedly ruling out doing a deal with any crossbenchers to form minority government should she fall short.

The Premier said she remained confident no deal would be needed last night as she addressed the party faithful at a function her Inala electorate as she compared the election to climbing Mount Everest for the second time, referencing her 2015 win.

"Tonight we are close to the peak but we are not quite there and we will not get there tonight but I remain confident that we will be able to form a majority Labor Government once all the votes are counted," Ms Palaszczuk said.

Recriminations were already starting in the LNP after the Opposition suffered an eight per cent drop in its primary vote on its 2015 result.

Opposition frontbencher Tim Mander last night said he believed former Premier Campbell Newman had lost the LNP its second election.

LNP Leader Tim Nicholls himself suffered a swing of about four per cent against him in his electorate but was expected to hold on, albeit with a reduced margin.

He last night challenged Ms Palaszczuk to keep her word and not "do deals" in order to hold Government.

"What is abundantly clear is that tonight Queenslanders have voted to shake things up," he said.

"The question for Annastacia Palaszczuk is will she keep her word," he said.

He indicated he may stay on as Opposition Leader, telling the party faithful he would not give up on his push to deliver a "better Queensland".

Whether he will remain Opposition leader after the result is unclear with a leadership ballot expected at the next party room meeting.

One Nation was last night itself questioning what went wrong after it fell well short of matching the 11 seats it won when it burst on to Queensland's political scene in 1998.

The party had been tipped to play kingmaker in this election it was last night struggling to get a foothold in more than one of the 61 seats it was contesting last night.

Mirani appears to be One Nation's best chance of a seat with the party likely to claim it from Labor's Jim Pearce.

One Nation's state leader Steve Dickson lost his seat to the LNP as expected while former Senator Malcolm Roberts failed to re-enter politics via the Labor-held seat of Ipswich.

The party's matriarch Pauline Hanson insisted there was still hope her party could pick up seats in the Queensland parliament, however.

Senator Hanson said she expected preferences to help the party win seats, including Mirani and potentially Cook.

"We're going to have to look at the preference flows to One Nation and all those postal votes have to come in," she said. "It's a long way to go yet and I think we will win some seats. I have no doubt about it whatsoever, so I'm not disappointed with this at all.

"There is a place for One Nation here in state politics."

Labor's primary vote also took a dip statewide last night, dropping about two per cent.

But the party performed strongly in the southeast where it looks likely to pick up multiple seats from the LNP last night including Mount Ommaney, Mansfield, Aspley and Redlands.

Labor also looks likely to regain a foothold on the Gold Coast with its candidate Meaghan Scanlon leading the LNP's Sid Cramp in Gaven.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad last night narrowly saw off a challenge to her seat from The Greens thanks to a decision by Mr Nicholls not to preference her last in the South Brisbane electorate.

EARLIER: Premier Annastacia Palaszczukhas stopped short of declaring victory in the 2017 election, but said she remains confident she will be able to form a majority government.

" I said it would be like climbing Mt Everest.

"Tonight we are close to the peak, but we are not quite there and we will not get there tonight.

"But I remain confident we will be able to form a majority Labor government once all the votes are counted."

She also indicated she would not be making a deal to form government with One Nation.

"I will never sell out the needs of Queenslanders by doing a deal with One Nation".

But she did not rule out a deal with the Greens or other independents.

In a strange statement of solidarity she said: "Queenslanders are not red, we're not blue... we are maroon".

Opposition leader Tim Nicholls refused to concede defeat.

Speaking to his supporters tonight, Mr Nicholls said while the count so far had shown "Queenslanders have voted to shake things up" he said "it's clear that the Premier has not won a majority in her own right."

"Let's be realistic, nor have we," he said.

Despite a 7 per cent swing away from the LNP, Mr Nicholls remained optimistic and said there were 360,000 postal votes yet to be counted over the coming days.

"There are between 10-14 seats in doubt across Queensland and those seats will determine the outcome of this election," he said.

Result unlikely to be known tonight

The outcome of the Queensland state election may not be known until preferences and pre-poll votes are counted.

About 717,000, or 23 per cent, of eligible voters cast their ballot early, up from 20 per cent in 2015.

With about 67 per cent of the vote counted, Labor is sitting on about 35 per cent, LNP on 33 per cent, One Nation on 13 per cent (up about 12.6 per cent), Greens on 9 per cent, Katter's Australian Party on 2.2 per cent and 5.4 per cent on others.

At least 12 seats are in doubt.

Labor is looking likely to pick up Labor, Gaven, Macalister, Maryborough, Mundingburra but Burdekin and Thuringowa are too close to call.

KAP is likely to pick up Hinchinbrook, One Nation will probably be elected in Mirani and it looks like independents will be elected in Noosa and Rockhampton.

Labor needs to win at least 47 seats in the 93-seat parliament to form a majority government, but at 10.30pm was sitting on around 41 seats.

Former Queensland premiers Campbell Newman and Peter Beattie earlier called the election based on current results and have declared Labor as the winners.

EARLIER: PAULINE Hanson's One Nation is yet to win a single seat in the Queensland election, despite widely-held projects that the minority party would take enough electorates to hold the balance of power.

One Nation's two most important players in this election are all but defeated.

Former Senator Malcolm Roberts has conceded defeat in his tilt for the seat of Ipswich, while state leader and LNP defector Steve Dickson is increasingly falling behind his LNP opponent in the Sunshine Coast seat of Buderim.

One Nation is however likely to take the Central Queensland seat of Mirani, outside of Mackay, after taking preference votes from the LNP candidate.

At 8.40pm, the ALP is expected to win 44 seats, the LNP is likely to take 37.

Former Queensland premiers Campbell Newman and Peter Beattie have each called the election for Labor.

EARLIER: ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk looks set to hold on to powerwith exit polling confirming a small swing towards the Government.